Whither Consciousness?
Nikunja Vihari Banerjee
Routledge eBooks October 13, 2023 DOI: 10.4324/9781003438465-4 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that the meaning of consciousness is best understood through the related terms experience and knowledge, and that phrases like religious consciousness denote a mystical feeling rather than knowledge of God. Contends that introspective psychology wrongly treated consciousness as an entity made of mental acts and contents, and proposes that consciousness is neither an independent existence nor exclusively tied to self or object. |
Abstract
Consciousness is undoubtedly one of the terms about the meaning of which there prevails great uncertainty in the fields of philosophy and psychology. The key to the understanding of the true meaning of consciousness lies in realizing that this term conveys the sense which is also conveyed by two others, experience and knowledge. Expressions like religious experience and religious consciousness do not really mean knowledge of God but a kind of mystical feeling. In introspective pyschology, consciousness came to mean a kind of entity in virtue of the view that it comprises not only the so-called mental acts or processes but also bits of mental existence distinguishable under several heads: sensations, images, etc. Consciousness can be regarded neither as an independent existence nor as in any sense related exclusively to the self or to the object.